El País, 25 January 2011
“Government to nationalise savings banks who fail to clean up balance sheets by September," reports El País. Spain’s savings banks, or cajas, have been drastically affected by bad loans to building developers. Amidst concern about an Irish style sovereign debt crisis, Spanish Minister of Finance Elena Salgado has announced the restructuring of the debt-laden cajas, forcing to seek private refinancing as conventional banks. Those cajas that fail to raises sufficient funds will be provided an estimated 25 to 50 billion euros in government fund. In its editorial, the Madrid daily remarks that this "radical initiative" should help to "calm the markets" and reduce pressure on Spain’s sovereign debt.
The leader of Greece’s leftist alliance SYRIZA is the new bright hope of Greek politics. Steering a course between pragmatism and the rhetoric of class warfare, he has unsettled Berlin, and not just those who back Angela Merkel's austerity policies. 
Europe’s economic woes have forced us to try to understand the secret Olympian world of global finance. But now that we pay more attention to bond yields and stability mechanisms, isn’t it clear that the experts up on their lofty peaks don’t know what’s going on either? 
This year’s Eurovision Song Contest is hosted by Azerbaijan, a country that is far from being a model democracy. An Estonian journalist takes a critical look at the deferential treatment enjoyed by the regime in Baku.